


Return of the Happiness?

by hysteria



Series: One Slip of the Knife [6]
Category: Whitechapel (TV)
Genre: Low Self Esteem, M/M, Other Triggers, Self Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-27
Updated: 2012-09-27
Packaged: 2017-11-15 04:14:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/523024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hysteria/pseuds/hysteria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kent visits the first murder location to try and find whatever evidence he can for his own investigation, but gets more than he expected.</p><p>[Warning - Contains self harm and other triggers]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Return of the Happiness?

Kent wakes up sprawled across his bed with a horrendous hangover. He lies in there for a while, heavy headed and heavy hearted with an ache in his thigh, Kent gets up and showers ready for the day ahead of him and his investigation. Unable to shake the ache in his chest, Kent reaches for his reliever, his knife that has found home next to the sink. Unable to find room on his right thigh he moves onto his left, only creating smaller cuts before he makes one large cut which finally gets rid of the pain inside him. 

Kent sits on the shower floor, watching his blood flow down the drain with the water. “Will I ever be happy enough to not feel this bad ever again. How can one person make me feel like this?” he sighs into the water. Letting the water drop onto his face helps get rid of his headache as he prepares to stand up to go get some breakfast.

With a fresh bandage on his leg and the cuts on both his thighs adding to his limp, he makes his way to his Vespa then to the hospital. Kent shows his badge and explains to the security and doctors why he’s there, “I’m just making some enquiries into the body found behind the University a few weeks ago. Just a routine check to try and find some more evidence for the enquiry.” It’s a good enough white lie that gets him down to the morgue. 

It’s surprisingly empty when he arrives, allowing him time to have a look around attempting to find anything that look like it could have been the weapon used to cut up the bodies of the 5 victims. Walking over to the dissection table and the podium with a couple of reports on it, Kent picks it up and flicks through it.

“That’s confidential stuff you know.” Says a voice softly from behind Kent, making him spin round suddenly. Across the room stands a man, around 30, blue eyes, dark blonde hair and wearing scrubs. Kent stands there for a few moments taking the man in before replying, “Erm, sorry. I-I was just, er, looking.” The man walks over to Emerson and takes the files from his hands as he looks him in the eyes.

“So, how can I help you?” the stranger asks, flashing an amazing smile to Kent. Getting his police badge out, he holds it up as he says “Er, I’m DC Kent. I’m investigating the body that was found behind the back of the University.” Putting the badge back in his pocket, Kent can feel his face blushing slightly. He shuffles his feet a bit before continuing, “I was just wondering, er, this is going to sound a bit weird,” eyes gazing back up to the stranger he giggles slightly, “Can I, er, see the knives your team uses when they dissect the, um, bodies please?”

There’s an awkward silence between the two men, before the stranger smiles “Sure, follow me.” The stranger leads Kent over to one of the metallic drawers and opens the middle draw. “Here you go” he says, allowing Kent to look in the drawer, “If you don’t mind me asking, what do the knives in our morgue have to do with the murdered victim?” Kent looks up, looking into the blue eyes of the stranger, trying to think of a logical reason for his inquiry. Trying to think of the reason he thought about coming here in the first place.

“We just want to confirm that the body wasn’t cut up with tools from this morgue” is all that Kent can come up with. Still looking into the eyes of the stranger, he smiles, hoping that it was a good enough answer. The stranger smiles back, “Oh, okay. Is there anything else I can help you with today, detective?” he responds, a slight smile appearing at the corners of his mouth. Kent stands up straight, feeling a slight tug on the cuts on his thighs as he does so, and looks into the eyes of the stranger for a few moments before responding with a smile, “Uh, no. That will be all thanks.” 

As Kent is about to reach the door, the stranger calls him, “Uh, DC Kent.” This makes him stop and turn round to face him. “I know this may be a little unprofessional, but I was wondering if, er, you wanted to go for a drink later on tonight?” Shocked at the offer, Kent’s mouth opens a little but after composing himself, Kent replies “Um, sure, yes.” The both of them giggle “Yes, I’d like that” Kent finally says with a large smile on his face.

“Great” The stranger replies with a smile as big as Kent’s. “There’s a pub just down the road, The Blind Beggar, if you’d like to meet there at 7?” The stranger has been walking slowly towards Kent as he speaks, and when he finishes speaking he’s less than a meter away from Kent. “Er, yeah sure. Sounds great. I’m Emerson by the way, Emerson Kent.” He chirps as he flashes his toothy grin. “Emerson, that’s a lovely name. I’m Adam Howard. So, I’ll see you tonight then, Emerson.” Adam finishes with a smile. “Yeah, see you later, Adam.” Kent replies smiling as he opens and walks out the door.

As Kent leaves the hospital and finds his Vespa in the car park he’s laughing to himself, “Well, that was not expected. I go in looking for evidence for my ridiculous investigation and I leave with a date.” By the time he’s got home he’s already figured out what he’s going to wear, any of the information he’d hope to deduce from later on tonight is wiped from his mind. As are all thoughts of Chandler, for once.

Four hours later and he’s sitting in The Blind Beggar waiting for Adam to arrive, secretly hoping that he hasn’t just been jokingly lead on by such an attractive man. “Oh God, I hardly know the guy and I’ve already called him attractive. Calm down Emerson!” he whispers to himself moments before he can see Adam enter through the pub doors.

“Hi, Adam.” Greets Kent who holds his hands awkwardly in front of him, not sure of how he should be presenting himself. It’s Adam who breaks Kent’s internal awkwardness by giving him a kind hug, before pulling back to return the greeting. “Hi Emerson, you look great” Adam starts, smiling as he does so, “Now, what are you going to be drinking?”

Kent doesn’t get home until midnight having spent the entire evening talking and discussing things with Adam. Emerson declines an invite from Adam to go back to his flat for some coffee, saying he has work early the next day. Stripping off to his boxers, Kent looks down at the bandages wrapped around his thighs. “If this happiness keeps up, I won’t need to hurt myself in order to control my feelings for someone as they’ll be reciprocated.” He says smiling to himself as he climbs into bed and quickly drifts off into a deep peaceful sleep, one he hasn’t experienced for a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> Still more to come, so don't think I've ended it here!


End file.
